1
On March 30, a player posted on the Bot account of an otome game circle, and the object of the complaint was an otome game production team. The post reads: "Players complain that voice actors and stand-up paintings are not good (may be blunt and fierce), and the official reply refutes the long text." After I posted a comment in the long comment area, "Since you have spent money, you should have the right to make reasonable suggestions, after all, this game is not generating electricity for love", I was blocked. The official anger is understandable, after all, it is not easy, but there is no need to delete even the comments that 'players have the right to make reasonable suggestions', right? The authorities want everyone to have good intentions, so why turn a blind eye to the kindness of others and not hear a bad voice? The first time I saw such an official with my mouth covered, I was really shocked. ”
In the afternoon, the ghost and the teacup received a message from their mutual friend Xiaoxiao: "We are hung up. ”
Ghost, Teacup and Xiaoxiao formed the amateur game production team "Shadow Sugar". Shadow Sugar is developing a otome game with the theme of national style mythology, "Mountains and Seas Don't Meet". The game can choose between two female protagonists, and the attackable characters are inspired by the mythical beasts and monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. According to the plan, "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet" will be intensively produced from December 2020 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Last month, Ghost ghost used the production group account to post a promotional PV on a video website.
No one thought this PV would cause controversy. The video was uploaded on March 19, when the production team's number was newly opened on the video website, there were no fans, and the first few days of views, bullet screens and comments were tepid. But on March 22, there was a sudden influx of viewers, as did the number of comments and bullet screens. "I don't know what's going on, I didn't care much after I sent the video, I didn't buy promotion or anything, suddenly there were so many people." Ghost said.
Some evaluations were mainly encouraging and supportive, while others were full of criticism. The main point of criticism is that the standing painting is not good-looking and the copywriting is not attractive. The hairline of a certain male protagonist has become one of the points of contention, some are simply complaining, and some are required to be modified. Inevitably, some insults appear in all these criticisms.
The game PV of "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet" first caused controversy on video websites
Faced with this situation, ghost and her friends began to delete comments and block users. They also posted an op-ed titled "A Man Who Has No Empathy and Doesn't Know How to Respect Others." The article reads: "I hope that all the players in the comments section who accuse us of bad style, sharp sound, poor copywriting, and unworthy of the game understand one thing, you are attacking the person in charge of this work." Don't think that you usually scold game manufacturers, manufacturers don't care, and our small production team will not care. ”
Ghosts don't think their actions could cause controversy. "Maybe someone went to Weibo to hang us up because they were blocked."
The main dissatisfaction of the weibo is that the "production team covers their mouths", the speaker believes that the player has the right to make reasonable suggestions, and his words are not excessive, but they are deleted and blocked by the production team. In particular, this game intends to sell for money, and consumers should not be treated as such.
Ghosts don't agree with this statement. "[Weibo] said it as if someone had already spent money on the game, but the game hadn't been released yet," she said, "and some people think 'there's no excesses' that seem uncomfortable to us." "Because the traffic on the Weibo account of the hanger is relatively large," the production team received a large number of insults and attacks in those days. After we responded to the official blog, we did not want to continue to talk about this matter, and sent it on our personal number, and some people inexplicably ran to the personal number to scold. The ghost said.
One of the male protagonists' hairline problems was met with quite intense complaints
Since then, the production team and some players have been at a stalemate. The insults suspected of online violence are relatively clear negative behaviors in the public perception, but is it an excessive behavior for players to comment that "the painting is not as good as mine", or asking the production group to change this and that? Is the way the production team blackouts and censors and publicly condemns potential players is overly sensitive? Everyone has their own opinions and standards, and these standards are very vague and subjective, and it is not easy to convince each other.
At the same time, we can indeed see again in this storm some of the controversies that are now prevalent. For example, does the player have the right to ask the production team to modify the game? Does "generating electricity with love" and amateur production groups mean that there is no charge, otherwise it is "again and again"?
One of the most noticeable is probably a layer of cognitive misalignment. In the mouth of some players, the production team "has no public relations experience, the operation is not professional", "before the opening of the rush to catch customers, when the time comes to talk about the flow". In the eyes of the ghost, the so-called "operation" and "flowing water" have nothing to do with "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet".
So, how should we view the relationship between developers and players of these types of games?
2
In several responses on the web, both the ghost and the teacup emphasized the amateur nature of their production team. Ghost ghost used to work as a copywriter at a game company, and his current job is comic book outsourcing. She used to be a contracted author of an interactive reading platform, and it was at that time that she met the programmer teacup who usually makes chips. Now, ghost is the main planner of "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet", including the script, original painting and standing painting; Teacup is the main program, responsible for writing code; Xiaoxiao, who did not accept an interview with Touch, is responsible for designing the UI and promotional posters. All three of them make games outside of their jobs.
This small team can be put together, completely out of interest. "Although the game was developed at the end of 2020, I had conceived of the prototype as early as 2013, but I was too young to get up." Ghost ghost said that after getting to know the teacup, the two had similar interests, and after a discussion, they felt that it was better to simply pull someone over to do independent games together.
However, indie games may not be the most suitable definition for "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet". Strictly speaking, it is more fan-player. The "fandom" here is different from the secondary creation that people generally understand. It can exist without relying on the original work, and it is completely original content. In the context of the game, the word "doujin" is more of a description of an amateur state.
The concept of fandom came from Japan and, in general, refers to non-commercial games (which do not equal free-to-play), and accordingly, indie games are commercial games released in the general market. The main difference between the two is "business is not commercial". In the past, fan games were mainly sold at the exhibition, which was similar to selling fandoms, while independent games chose to be released on specialized game platforms. At the development level, the distinction between doujinshi and very small indie games is really subtle.
There have also been many fandom game production groups active on the Internet, and they have similarities with independent game producers, but they are not the same
After the advent of digital gaming platforms like DLsite, many fandom games have also begun to sell as steadily and for a long time as commercial games, blurring the line between doujinshi and indie games. Outside of Japan, such games are not uncommon on platforms such as Steam and pitch.
Ghost Ghost's positioning of "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet" is also more inclined to fandom games. "You can also see on DLsite, which distinguishes between so-called commercial games and fan games, both male and female. There are some fan games that do do elaborately, even on par with commercial games, but they are essentially small workshops for a few people to entertain themselves. The ghost said, "Including the BIG IP of 'Oriental Project', it is actually a fan game." "Because this IP was also made to a small group of fans at the beginning, and then the response was particularly good before it gradually expanded its scale."
In fact, whether it is a fan game or a small-scale independent game, the non-commercial, personalized characteristics are often implemented in every aspect of the development process. Although many fan games (indie games) charge, the relatively low price is difficult to cover the production cost, most developers can't support themselves from game sales, and others don't even care about pricing.
The ghost calculated an account: the material cost they invested in "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet" is indeed not much, but if calculated by labor, the general salary of game copywriting in second-tier cities is 8,000 yuan per month, and the original painter is more expensive. "I'm now making money 40 percent of the time, playing games 60 percent of the time, and the other two people don't get paid, and I do it for free in my spare time." In this way, the cost of the game is not low. The ghost said. Even so, they did neither the upfront survey nor the cost and pricing. Referring to the game's sales, she estimates: "About 500 copies? ”
Because of this, in the face of requests such as changing the standing drawing in the comments, the team said that it could not be met. "Those pictures were drawn a year ago, and now I see problems everywhere, but they have all been introduced into the program, and repainting is the progress of rework for more than half a year." The ghost said, "And some people are not satisfied with the hairline, and some people are not satisfied with anything else." What should I do if they continue to be dissatisfied after I change it? Half a year has passed since the change, and my painter has grown again, do I want to continue to repaint? Their first goal at present can only be to push the project forward and make things: "The big factory may have the ability to change, but we really can't change it." ”
Don't demand themselves by commercial standards, treat games as hobbies and expressions, and make ghosts more like a group of fan-authors - for them, uploading videos on video websites, announcing that they are about to launch a game, and a painter posting a fish map on social networks, and saying that they intend to make fandom is not much different. Correspondingly, their attitude towards comments is the same as that of many fan authors: "If you treat the people who draw and write the articles with respect, but when you see the people who make the game, you think they are out to make money, so you deserve to be scolded... I just want to ask why? ”
But in the eyes of players accustomed to commercial games and professional operations, the reaction of the ghosts and ghosts is amazing. Nowadays, most game operations are based on appeasing players as the first priority, and it is unimaginable to block or delete player reviews. Players can't see from the limited promotional content that the production team has not considered operation and flow, nor do they know that the shadow sugar account is managed by the members of the group in turn, and the deletion of comments and blocking operations will not notify each other, and the player is just surprised by the production team's "cover your mouth". This became the deepest disagreement between the two sides in the whole thing.
3
So, should works that are "entertaining themselves" be charged? As consumers, do players have the right to ask the developers of paid games to modify the content according to their own opinions?
Most of the time, whether or not you charge doesn't affect the classification of the game itself. Whether it is a two-creation or original fan game, or a self-developed independent game, it will inevitably involve the problem of production costs. Whether or not to cover these costs through charging, as long as the channel allows and there is no forced buying and selling, is the freedom of developers. Before there was a domestic AVG, it was precisely because of the good quality and free, and too special that it caused a boom. That's out of the producer's own pocket to do charity, and shouldn't be the broad standard for other production groups.
DLsite is a platform for individual authors to publish original content, including fan games, comics, novels, and audio works, most of which are charged
On the other hand, players asking developers to change the game is not as natural as some people think. This has only become more common in recent years, especially in the context of the increasing market share of non-buyout games, and it has become more and more public and widely accepted. Of course, content that violates public order and good customs, "harmony" of force majeure, and technical adjustments such as bug fixes are not included. Many times, the player's modification requirements involve aesthetics, often after some vertical drawings, card faces and costumes are "inflamed" because they are not popular, and the manufacturer takes them back to re-make, and will provide corresponding compensation, usually some kind of in-game currency.
The reasons for this are complex, and have to do with the changing nature and operational strategies of the game. Single-player games and buyout games sell mainly content, when players buy a game, they buy a synthesis of gameplay, story, and art, that is, a complete work that has been packaged. If players are dissatisfied with what aspects of the game, they can make a bad review on the purchase page, they can go to social networks to denounce it, and they can apply for a refund if they comply with the rules of the platform, but few people will ask the developer to modify the content (except for technical issues such as bugs and balance adjustments), and the developer is unlikely to significantly modify the content of the game that has already been produced.
Games that are not bought-out and long-term are not the same. These games tend to deliver content in fragmented ways, constantly updating and changing over the years, focusing on building an emotional connection between players and game characters that is dominated by "cooking power", or allowing players to socialize with each other. Rather than selling the content itself, they are providing services in order to keep players, or "users," longer.
Therefore, as part of the consumer content, in order to maintain the relationship between players and characters, in order to allow players to continue to participate in activities and cultivate characters in the future, the operation of such games is obviously in a more service position, and always ready to change the game content and appearance performance in order to take care of the player's mood, which is also the source of "sincerity" or "respect" in the eyes of some players.
The purpose of this division is not to prove that the buyout game is better or more "conscientious". As mentioned earlier, limited to the efforts of the production team, the sales and final quality of many indie games and fan games are likely to be inferior to non-buyout commercial games. The point is that some players, especially those who proposed "to change the drawing" and "change the copywriting" in this storm, may not realize that the set of standards they are used to does not apply to all types of games. Some more capable manufacturers can provide them with services, but also not universally.
When discussing this issue, the reason why the phrase "non-buyout game" instead of "mobile game" is used is because similar situations occurred in the era before the rise of mobile games. Large client online games or page games have long been to provide various degrees of customized services for heavy course players, but they are not so public and popular. Farther away, the content of the serial network articles, weekly TV series and new fans will also be adjusted according to the audience feedback. However, the popularity of mobile games and the loud voice of online feedback have jointly created a "normal" phenomenon, which has begun to make some people feel that it is a matter of course for manufacturers to change their content.
In the field of animation, some works also have rumors of "changing the script and changing the protagonist because of the criticism of a large number of players" during the broadcast process
But this may just be an illusion, after all, comfortable services are also bought with real money and silver purchased in-house, and their price may far exceed the actual value of the content, and the real object of the player's payment is not necessarily the content creator. "Sincerity" and "respect" are directed by the more paid for by beautiful card faces, skins, and well-designed probabilities. Moreover, the cost of in-game purchases is often not, or it is difficult to refund, and the sunk cost of direct withdrawal must be considered, so players do not seem to have any other good way in addition to asking manufacturers to change.
During the interview, the two producers revealed an attitude from time to time: "Maybe the environment has changed, now the market has been dominated by mobile games, and our thinking is still stuck 10 years ago." "They still don't quite understand why the original PV suddenly attracted so many people to watch, the official Weibo of the production team has been intermittently updating the publicity and production dynamics since December last year, and they have not encountered a lot of comments, after all, homemade games are generally very niche. In addition to them, there are some similar production groups publishing works, and occasionally you can see everyone interacting on Weibo, which is not alarming, and in general, it is more like communication within the circle. But there are currently no dedicated channels for interaction in this circle, scattered among many independent game makers, and it is difficult for others to figure out the nature of each.
Domestic fandom games did have a relatively vigorous period. Touch asked Sliots, the editor of the CnGal data station, for information. In addition to operating the information station, Sliots and his friends Ukato and Canocino have sorted out and stored some fandom data that can be found on KeyFansClub, Chinese Doujinshi Website and other websites. It can be seen that since 2009, there have been many homemade games released on forums and Tieba, most of which are based on tools such as Nscriper and RPG Maker. Fandom production groups of all sizes have blossomed everywhere, both female and male. XiaoXiao, who is in charge of UI design in Shadow Sugar, was once a member of a highly watched female production team.
In the view of ghosts and teacups, the gradual decline of such forums and Tieba may have something to do with interactive reading platforms and the rise of new women to mobile games, in addition to the overall decline of the forum era. Interactive reading platforms are larger in scale and have a wide audience, and their expansion period is less concerned about material copyright, and the technical threshold is lower. Some fan game authors moved over, only to find that those audiences didn't necessarily coincide with two-dimensional AVG games. The operating model of women-to-mobile games has shaped the expectations of many players for similar products at present.
After the disappearance of forums and fandom productions, traces of them remain in the Internet Archives
Another friend introduced by Sliots, Shalu, has been working on original fandom games since 2013 and is currently a professional indie game producer, as well as helping other independent producers with publishing matters. He has witnessed the rise and fall of the domestic fandom industry. "Forums are indeed 90% dead, but all forums are like this. Other reasons I think are less mysterious, that is, the cohesion of the amateur team is poor. He said, "Free games, and if you don't give money to the team members, there is no self-driving force, and everyone has a high probability pit." "Shalu herself had planned to make several games that she had planned to make." Therefore, what can be done is at least a little bit of business acumen, at least for the sake of money. ”
Sha Lu also added that the threshold for doing fan games has also been raised in disguise, mainly because the artists ask for money. Touchle learned from other sources that many amateur CVs and cooperative copywriters are also paid. At present, there is no particularly specialized and centralized website in China, like DLsite, which independently publishes fan games. "The fee basically still has to go Steam, and the free one may be the Tieba forum directly to the download package." He explained.
4
This may be the background and antecedents of the storm of "Mountains and Seas Do Not Meet". Promotional PVs for non-commercial games appeared on public platforms, and for unknown reasons, the number of visits soared, triggering some expectations that did not match the positioning, and criticism, opinions and insults followed. The production team officially came down from a personal perspective, refuting, deleting comments and blocking, and some players were even more dissatisfied, and were hung on Weibo and expanded.
In the course of the debate, there are probably two main points of view. One is that "some people have no idea what the nature of the homemade game is, so they hang people up to Bot, this behavior can not be recognized"; more people believe that "consumers look at the work and are not obliged to understand the situation of the production team". The two sides could not persuade each other, the exchange was not friendly, and as with all online disputes, it gradually turned into cynicism and personal attacks.
At present, this situation of fragmentation and difficulty in communication will continue, and since the problems of the game have been exposed under a larger platform, it is naturally no longer possible to enjoy the relatively comfortable treatment in the small circle. Not accepting the opinion is "princess disease", emphasizing that personal production is "selling miserably", and complaining about the environment is "throwing pot players". Although there are people who play round between the two sides, hoping that players will understand more, and hoping that the makers will patiently explain the positioning of the game, they have achieved little in the negative emotions that have spread. In a sense, this is also the epitome of the current fragmentation of different types of game audiences and online environments. No one will give in, and no one seems to be willing to give in.
Angry, the production team members said on Weibo, "If I do the Otome game again, I will write the name backwards." When Touch asked them if they really thought so, the answer was "Who knows?" Their lives have a different focus. The ghost thinks that the most important thing is to work to make money, if you continue to do games and delay making money, you will definitely not do it; Teacup was a die-hard fan before joining the project, but she has no other spare time since she participated in the project, and she wants to go back to the movie.
Now, the heat of the debate seems to have passed. Several people are still slowly advancing the production progress of the game, updating some CV promotional videos. "The game may still prioritize itch, after all, steam is more troublesome on the other side." Teacup said. It is an ideal state to finish at the end of the year, and at present" everything is not easy to say.
If they hope that this storm can bring any positive effects, "I hope more people will realize that there are not only manufacturers in the world, but also many different people who make games." The ghost said, "Even if a person sees us about this and suddenly knows that ordinary people, even if they are out of hobbies, can play games in their spare time, this thing is meaningful." ”